Matrotrophy

A mammal embryo (centre) is attached by its umbilical cord to a placenta (top), through which the mother provides food to the embryo while it is in her uterus.

Matrotrophy is a form of maternal care during organism development, associated with live birth (viviparity), in which the embryo of an animal or flowering plant is supplied with additional nutrition from the mother (e.g. through a placenta). This can be contrasted with lecithotrophy, in which the only source of nutrition for the embryo is yolk originally contained within its egg.